Post Bag
Jacques Roman (Postbag, Oct 6) has missed my point. I am afraid other readers might have as well, so please allow me to clarify my stance in regard to my earlier letter, ''Stop writing charters'' (Postbag, Oct 4).
Having a country's constitution redrafted cannot in itself change the constitution of that country. A constitution is a social contract. It is the result of a political evolution and is thus continually evolving. Writing a constitution should be no more than an attempt to codify the fundamental contractual relationship between the citizens and their state existing at the point in time when codification is taking place.
A constitution that could be changed by any arbitrary caprice would not be a constitution. Unfortunately, over the years, too many Thais have expected that our constitution can be changed by such arbitrary caprice.
As Mr Roman has pointed out, doing away with a piece of legislation that titles itself as the constitution does not in any way do away with the constitution itself. Constitutional principles and provisions can be, and are, embodied in other pieces of legislation as well as the written constitutional doctrines of the country, as New Brunswick Broadcasting Co v Nova Scotia (Speaker of the House of Assembly),
[1993] 1 S.C.R. 319, among others, has illustrated.
VISOOT PHONGSATHORN
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No respect for the spirit of the law
I do agree with Jacques Roman on the benefit of having a written constitution (''Value of a constitution is surely self-evident,'' Postbag, Oct 6), even though I admire greatly Britain's unwritten constitution.
However, I do believe that over-emphasis on the supremacy of the written laws in Thailand have gone too far, in many instances to the extent of losing one's sense of proportion where ethics, governance and good taste, which are higher than the laws, are ignored.
The standard of governing has now stooped down to the extent that _ if there is no clear-cut prohibition on the statutes _ anything is possible. If they are in grey areas, they are all do-able. Almost every morning we read of excuses expressed by those in power in that light and, worse, one sees them expressed with straight faces on the evening news without shame and without fear of public distaste.
As Sir Winston Churchill said, ''If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.''
SONGDEJ PRADITSMANONT
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Driving overseas
e: George Morgan's letter about using a Thai licence to drive overseas. I recently used mine to rent a car in Canada, but not before fighting my way through a network of conflicting messages from both the Thai and Canadian side. As you need to hold a Thai licence for one year to qualify for an IDP, I was unable to get one, but figured that since the new Thai licences are printed in both Thai and English, an IDP is unnecessary.
My experience was that not many people _ and certainly not too many staff at car rental companies _ were clear on exactly what an International Driving Permit (IDP) is. According to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, an IDP is nothing more than an English translation of an existing foreign-language driving licence; it is not a licence in itself. So, if your licence has English on it, legally you shouldn't need an IDP.
GREG JORGENSEN
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Equality of the sexes
Re: Jitiya's article about the Thai Office of Women's Affairs. The Baha'i writings tell us to think of humankind as a bird. One wing represents men and the other women. If you bind one of those wings, the bird is not able to fly properly. It is only when both wings are free and fully developed that the bird of humanity has the capacity to attain the greatest heights.
So, finding ways to include the talents of millions of women in every aspect of life does not take away from men. Rather, it gives men the strong foundation of a well-developed civilisation from which they can achieve their own potential.
MARSHA WAREN
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Chalerm's booze ban / Let's not be too hasty in dismissing Chalerm's idea of banning alcohol sales with the aim of dealing with alcohol-related violence. This is an idea which deserves proper study, including a test-run with a smaller sample group before the scheme is extended to the whole country. Let's find out first how well it works. I think his own family would make the perfect pilot group, don't you?
RICHARD S HENDERSON
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